The Correspondent

The BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, a Good Housekeeping Summer Choice and an Amazon Best Book of 2025 so far Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize ‘I CAN‘T PRAISE IT ENOUGH. AN ABSOLUTE TRIUMPH‘ Clare Chambers ‘THIS BOOK TOUCHED MY SOUL QUITE FRANKLY‘ Reader review A heartwarming, witty story about the life of an extraordinary woman, told through her letters, for fans of Olive Kitteridge, A Man Called Ove and 84 Charing Cross Road - Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters - to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. Because at seventy-three, Sybil has used her correspondence - witty and wise - to make sense of the world. But beyond the page, she has spent the last thirty years keeping the people who love her at arms‘ length. Until letters from someone she had put out of her mind land on her doorstep, forcing her to reckon with her past mistakes. For as Sybil is about to learn, it‘s never too late to write a few post-scripts. - THE BOOK THAT HAS CAPTURED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HEARTS ‘A cause for celebration‘ Ann Patchett ‘Makes me hopeful that there‘s still plenty of good left in the world and my life ‘ Reader Review ‘You will fall in love with Sybil. You will not want to let her go‘ Irish Times ‘Full of joy. Full of heartbreak. Perfect‘ Reader review ‘I cried more than once as I witnessed this brilliant woman come to understand herself more deeply‘ Florence Knapp ‘Left a profound impact on me. Impossible not to be moved‘ Reader review ‘I can‘t imagine anyone with a soul not loving it‘ Lauren Bravo